Jensen Takes Second In A Row At Thunder Mountain

Center Lisle= , NY - ..For the second week in a row Paul Jensen won the thirty lap Modified feature last Saturday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway. Jensen waited until late in the race to pass early leader Jeff Bronson for the win. Other winners included Don Harvey in the Central New York Mini-Sprint Tour event, Chris Piasecki won his second Street Stock feature, Harold Humphrey took the measure of the Four Cylinder Stock feature while Lee Dewitt regained his winning ways in the Four Cylinder Modifieds while former champion Mike Wilbur took the Pure Stock feature.

&= nbsp; Bronson, in the Ken Brewer owned car, normally driven by Rusty Harrington, went to the front early taking the lead from Carl Nagel on lap eight and looked to building an insurmountable lead over the rest of the field. In the meantime the big guns Mike Colsten and Doug Worthing were starting to come to the front. Jensen, who started ninth used the top side to his advantage as he passed car after car until he got to Bronson. Numerous yellows slowed the pace of the race until Jensen caught and passed Bronson with seven laps to. Once in front Jensen opened up a five car length lead over the field as Bronson was riding comfortably unchallenged in second as the checkers flew. A good battle for the third spot ended on the last lap when point leader J. R. Hurlburt got by Carl Nagel for the spot while Worthing worked his way back from an early race spin to take home the fifth spot.

&= nbsp; The Central New York Mini-Sprint Tour was in town with twenty-seven cars but the result was the same as it has been for most of the year but it certainly wasn t as easy. Regular Thunder Mountain runners Steve Boyd and Lance O dell headed the pack early as eleven time winner Don Harvey was getting through heavy traffic. Boyd led the pack with O dell right on his back bumper when a yellow flew on lap three. Boyd got slowed down but O dell didn t and clipped the slowing Boyd car. O dell slid into Boyd and did a lazy roll, damaging the wing and putting him in the pits for the rest of the night. On lap seven Garry Moore s car went up in smoke on the backstretch. On the restart Boyd s car wouldn t fire. This gave the lead to Harvey who when the green came back out found himself in familiar surroundings, in the top spot. As the laps wound down the only thing that would slow Harvey down was lapped traffic and that almost came into play as Harvey bumped into the lapped machine of Billy Jaycox late in the event. Harvey slowed a touch but nobody was close enough to do anything and Harvey saw his win total climb to an even dozen. Another track regular James Brush came home second, followed by pole sitter Bobby Scaccio in third while A. J. Bagozzi and Phil Peworchik rounding out the top five.

&= nbsp; Chris Piasecki started on the outside pole, held off the challenges of a surprisingly fast Harold Humphrey and later on Jamie Shea led wire to wire to notch win Street Stock feature number two of the season. Piasecki beat pole sitter Billy Spoonhower in to the first turn and the chase was on. Three yellow flags later the green and white machine of Piasecki was equal to all the challenges and take the win. Humphrey got a strong second, Shea was third, Spoonhower came home fourth and Cortland s John Morse rounded out the top five.

&= nbsp; Mike Wilbur started up front, led pole sitter Toby Baker lead the first three laps before taking top spot. Wilbur held on through two yellow flags periods and some late challenges from Baker to take home his second fifteen lap Pure Stock feature event of the year. Baker came home second for his best finish of the year. Five time winner Larry Hillis came home third followed by Chad Parks in fourth and point leader John Payne in fifth.

&= nbsp; It was all Harold Humphrey in the Four Cylinder Stocks. He took the lead early and held off a late race attempt from Nathan Stevens to keep himself in the point lead. Jeff McKinney was a solid third followed by Jerry Wilcox and Jeff Wilcox in multi-yellow feature.

&= nbsp; Lee Dewitt regained his winning ways in the Four Cylinder Modified twenty lap feature. Dewitt took over the top spot on lap five from Scott Allen and opened up a commanding distance between himself and the rest of the field. With no yellows to slow the pace, Dewitt was able to put himself in another zip code over Allen who finished a distant second. Mike Payne came home third, followed by Cliff Pierce and Bruce Detro.

&= nbsp; Next week a regular six class show featuring the Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds, Four Cylinder Stocks and the Mini-Sprints. Gates open at 4:00 p.m. while the racing is scheduled for 6:30. Thunder Mountain is located just off New York route 79 in Center Lisle. Just follow the signs.

&= nbsp; MODIFIED FINISH: Paul Jensen, Jeff Bronson, J. R. Hurlburt, Carl Nagel, Doug Worthing, Brian Davis, Mike Nagel, Tom McGurrin, Rick Wilk, Mike Colsten, Mike Clapperton, Joel Batzel, George Kostelansky, Rick Whitney, Rod Hunsinger, Butch Cerullo, Dave Zona, Rich Tiffany, Dick Sundgren, Jeremy Smith, Jimmy Wrench, Dave Jenkins, Chris Weaver, Tom Sienko, Brian Payne. DNS-Dan Morden, Steve Frack, Mike Frost,

&= nbsp; MINI-SPRINT FINISH: Don Harvey, James Brush, Bobby Scaccio, A. J. Bagozzi, Phil Peworchik, Paul James, Duby Woodruff, Matt Windhausen, Billy Wayman, Bruce Brown, Ryan Lund, Curt Shuttleworth, Billy Jaycox, Jimmy Lawler, Jeff Collins, Peter Sindt, Steve Boyd, Steve Diffendorf, Garry Moore, Mike Emhoff, Cody Sparks, Rick Christopher, Lance O dell, Doug Smith, Aric Copeland. DNS-Frank Rummenknapp, Jeff Lamothe, Bruce Gould, Steve Klock.

&= nbsp; STREET STOCK FINISH: Chris Piasecki, Harold Humphrey, Jamie Shea, Billy Spoonhower, John Morse, Ed McKernan, Tracy Gregory, Gary Roberts, Scott Conover, Bill Rampe, Charlie Fulton, Dave Vanderpool, George Lynch Sr., Rich Powell, Mike Wilbur, Max Moshier Jr., Joe Zedanovich, Ron Latwinski.

&= nbsp; PURE STOCK FINISH: Mike Wilbur, Toby Baker, Larry Hillis, Chad Parks, John Payne, Bill Morse, Chris Stull, Don Moshier, Wayne Bellis, Jay Bradley, John Dale Howey, Mike Austin, Doug Stack, Matt Sissenstein, Jeff Young, Norm Whittemore, Darl Ellis, Tom Witko, Larry Rozelle, Tony Pease, William Solliwell, Steve McWain.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FEATURE: Harold Humphrey, Nathan Stevens, Jeff McKinney, Jerry Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox Jr., Lloyd Twarz, Rick Phillips, John Wilcox, Kevin Miller, Chris Tobbert, Joe Bush, Billy Spoonhower, Jim Mills, Fred Newton, Stan Mathews.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Lee Dewitt, Scott Allen, Mike Payne, Cliff Pierce, Bruce Detro, Dick Case, Buzz Barton, Alan Bush, Roger Dewitt, Steven Bump, Karen Dewitt, Calvin Pierce, Chris Burke, Curt Pierce, Kala Bush, George Howe. DNS- John Lowe, Bruce Knaak.

&= nbsp; MOUNTAIN NUGGETS: Veteran Dick Sundgren had his best run going in quite a while. Running in the top five late in the race after leading the first three laps tangled with another car which caused a spin and a flat tire which sent him to pits, losing a couple of laps. A miserable night for second place points man George Kostelansky. He didn t make the heat, wound up in the infield mud in the consi and having to use his point status to get into the feature to finish an un-Kostelansky like 13th. Jensen normally noted for running the inside, was seen using the outside groove for most of the evening. Street Stock point leader Scott Conover got a flat tire late in the race while running in the top five. He pitted and came back to finish ninth, not losing too much ground in the point chase to Roberts who finished one spot ahead of Conover. Right after Dewitt s win he had to be pushed into victory lane as his car wouldn t refire. The Dewitt s Karen and Lee won the two Four Cylinder Modified heats.